Abstract

Earlier this year the case of Binyam Mohamed resulted in the severe condemnation, by one of Britain’s most senior judges, of Britain’s Security Service, finding that they had “failed to respect human rights, deliberately misled parliament and had a “culture of suppression” that undermined government assurances about its conduct .” It was shown that MI5 officers were complicit in the ill-treatment of a British resident, causing him “significant mental stress and suffering” – he had been tortured. Such was the severity of Judge Neuberger’s draft judgement, that MI5 lawyer Jonathan Sumption QC, privately wrote to the court asking that the judgement be reconsidered before being handed down.